Hallucinations
by Arctic Banana
Summary: Dying alone on the battlefield, Brawl gets one last visit from a "friend"...or is he?


_Just when I start to get back into writing, they go and release Resident Evil 5 and give me another game to become addicted to. XP At least this wasn't a two month addiction like Ratchet & Clank was... What can I say? Platformers and survival horror are my two biggest video game weaknesses (although to be fair, RE5 is more action than survival horror)._

_This is actually based on a dream I had a few days ago that I just felt like writing down, more as practice than anything since I haven't been writing much lately. It probably would have been longer than 888 words, but my puppy jumped up onto my bed and woke me up. Don't you just hate that? XP_

_Now as for the story itself... Is Bonecrusher really there to comfort Brawl while he dies? Or is Brawl really just hallucinating and seeing what he wants to see? You decide..._

**XXxxXX**

Brawl gasped when he regained consciousness, trying to sit up but finding that he couldn't move. He was in so much pain… Glancing down slowly at his chest, he noticed several gaping holes in his armor, some of them penetrating all the way through to the other side. It was so hot, any fluids that would have been splattered about from the broken fuel lines were all bubbled and evaporated away, leaving behind only burnt wires and molten metal. There was no way he would survive much longer. It was amazing he was even alive and conscious right now. He slowly turned his head to the left, curious as to what was happening around him.

A human, part of the Earth military, noticed him move and quickly pointed it out to his comrades. "That thing's still alive… What should we do?!"

"Get one of those robots… They'll know what to do about it," his companion replied.

So he was an "it" now. Something not even important enough to have his own designated gender. Brawl didn't even care what they did to him at this point. Never before had he ever wanted to die as much as he did now. There was just so much pain… He couldn't move his arms, let alone his entire body. He closed his optics, hoping that death would come quickly for him.

"Figures. It's ironic that such a tough guy like you would be taken out by a juvenile insect with no legs," a voice laughed at him.

Brawl cringed at that sound. That voice- that same voice that had always mocked him and yelled at him and cursed him out while its owner beat him violently- was coming from right next to him. "Please, Bonecrusher!" Brawl managed a painful sob. "Just leave me alone! Please!" He didn't care that he was begging for it. He just didn't want to be subjected to Bonecrusher's cruelty right now, in a moment like this. He just wanted to die in peace.

"Ah, Brawl…" Bonecrusher sighed in a surprisingly gentle and empathetic voice. He sat beside him and reached out to stroke his shoulder. "I'm not here to pick on you this time."

Brawl looked confused at him, when a thought occurred to him. "Bonecrusher, you should probably get out of here before someone…"

Bonecrusher shook his head. "Ah, Brawl. Always needlessly worrying about me. Don't worry about that right now. I'll be fine." Bonecrusher didn't seem to be worried at all about it, and was surprisingly very calm.

Brawl hissed when a wave of pain ran through his frame. He looked back at Bonecrusher, his vision noticeably becoming blurry. "I thought you hated me."

"I did," Bonecrusher admitted. He calmly leaned back against the rubble, watching the humans with interest. "I guess certain circumstances have made me a bit of a happier person."

"Even so…why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?"

Bonecrusher pulled a chunk of debris out of Brawl's armor and tossed it aside. "Well, I guess because out of everyone I've ever come into contact with, you were the most persistent about trying to be my friend." His optics narrowed when he remembered unpleasant memories of Brawl stalking him around the base. "Even though it got very annoying from time to time… But still, even though I tried to push you away from me, you were still there just in case I needed you. I seem to remember that you were the only one who visited me in the medbay that time when I got sick."

"I seem to remember that I was the reason you were sick," Brawl replied.

"Oh yeah… Fuck…" Bonecrusher had forgotten about the first part of the acid incident. "Don't worry about that either." He cocked his head at the nearby Autobot, interested in what he was talking about with the soldiers. Brawl remained unaware of everything that was going on around him, too preoccupied with Bonecrusher to even care.

"He's been acting kind of weird… He's talking to himself or something…" he overheard one of the soldiers tell the medic. "I can't understand what he's saying, though. It just sounds like electronic gibberish to me."

Ratchet listened to the garbled Cybertronian that Brawl was speaking. He wasn't talking to himself, it seemed. But who _was_ he talking to? There was no one even there. He looked back at the soldiers who were waiting for a response. "He's hallucinating from the shock," he explained. Never before had he felt so sorry for a Decepticon.

Bonecrusher looked away from the medic and back towards Brawl. He was surprised to find that he'd managed to move his arm enough to hold Bonecrusher's hand. "I'm scared," Brawl shivered, slowly slipping away.

"Don't be. I'm here," Bonecrusher replied softly. He looked up when he heard a weapon cocking and noticed one of the Autobots preparing to euthanize Brawl. He quickly went back to distracting him, making sure that he was unaware of what was about to happen. He gently nudged his shoulder and gave him a smile, the first one Brawl had ever seen from him. "I'll see you again shortly," he promised before the Autobot pulled the trigger.


End file.
